


Echoes

by SoftButchCassidy



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Bittersweet, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Infinite Forest (Destiny), M/M, Osiris' echoes make things interesting, a smut-plot sandwich, osiris likes to make saint feel good
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-20
Updated: 2020-02-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:14:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22822348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoftButchCassidy/pseuds/SoftButchCassidy
Summary: Osiris found him, but it wasn't the right time. It wasn't the right Saint. Saint knows, but he doesn't care. It's right for him. It's right for them.
Relationships: Osiris/Saint-14 (Destiny)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 97





	Echoes

**Author's Note:**

> uwu have some sad sexy grandpas

He shouldn’t do this.

His Echo stared at the Titan. It was, for once, quiet. This place was a brief respite from the onslaught. It was the closest that Osiris had been able to find. It wasn’t right, but he wanted to, wanted so badly--

“Osiris?”

His Echo froze. A thousand more rippled from his body. He stepped back.

Saint stared back at him, stunned. He stepped forward slowly. “Osiris… I… I’ve been looking for you,” he said.

Osiris swallowed. He nodded. “I know,” he said, trying to keep a clamp on the emotion in his voice. 

Saint angled his head. “You’re… not really here, though, are you?”

He couldn’t look at him anymore. He shook his head.

Saint scoffed. “I figured as much. This Forest… damnable place. Where are you?”

“I can’t tell you that.”

“When?”

“I can’t tell you that, either.”

“Osiris,” Saint said, pleading. He stepped forward and held out a hand. “Come home.”

“I can’t,” Osiris said, and this time, his voice broke.

Saint stared at him for a long moment. “Bullshit.”

Osiris straightened. “What?”

“Bullshit you can’t,” Saint said. “I don’t know where or when you are, but part of you is here now. That’s all that matters. Come here.”

Osiris contemplated hard. He should leave, find him again, but--

He felt himself stepping forward. Echoes rippled from him.

Saint’s fingers were cool with void. He still had his Light. 

Maybe… just maybe…

Saint gripped his fingers. “What is this?”

“An Echo,” Osiris said. “Reflections of myself to explore timelines and simulations in the Forest.”

“Egomaniac.”

Osiris rolled his eyes. “Sagira tells me that enough.”

Saint laughed, and Osiris’s eyes burned. “It’s true! You are!” There was a smile in his voice.

“Thanks,” Osiris said dryly.

Saint squeezed his hand in both of his before letting go, but only long enough to take off his helmet. His smile made Osiris’ heart ache. “I’ve looked for you for so long,” he murmured. “I wish this were really you.”

“It is,” Osiris said. “In a way.”

“How do I know?”

“I control them. They’re all me.”

“That’s… weird to think about. Can you feel this?” 

Saint took his hand again, drew him close. He pressed his mouth to Osiris’ knuckles. 

Osiris swallowed the pain in his throat. “Yes,” he whispered. “Saint…”

“Good,” Saint said softly. He held Osiris’ hand to his face. “When will I see you again? The real, flesh and blood you?”

“I don’t think you will.”

Saint scoffed. “I will. I swear it, Osiris. This won’t be our last meeting. I’ll find you.”

“I…” Osiris couldn’t tell him. He wanted so badly to.

Saint pressed a kiss to his palm. “You can’t say. You’ve seen a timeline where things go wrong,” he guessed.

“Something like that,” Osiris managed.

“Very well then.” Saint let his helmet transmat. “I’ll manage without. We’ll be together again, my love, I swear on every life of mine, on the Light that brought us together.”

“You can’t make that promise to me,” Osiris said.

“I just did,” Saint said. “And I may not be a Hunter, but I’ll keep that as honest as the most somber Nightstalker.”

“Saint, please--”

Saint stepped closer and rested his hand at Osiris’ waist. “Osiris, love,” he whispered. “Dance?”

“What?”

Saint shifted his grip, his stance. Bolero. “Dance with me. One more time, before they part us again.”

Osiris fumbled his grasp on Saint. It wasn’t the same, but so close, close enough. He nodded slowly.

He could nearly hear music in his head as they moved, slow, together. It was a familiar thing, a routine that was even more than muscle memory. Even in his heavy armor, Saint moved with elegance, with grace, a tiger in a dusky forest. 

Not a minute in, and Saint was reaching for Osiris’ mask. His fingers drew it down, freed his face. Saint smiled gently and slowed their pace.

Osiris’s Echoes couldn’t cry, but he was afraid that it might show.

Saint drew back from their kiss and cupped his face in both hands. “Don’t leave,” he whispered.

“I don’t want to.”

“Stay, then. Come here.”

“I can’t.”

“I want to help you. I want to keep you safe.”

Osiris couldn’t stop the delirious burst of laughter as he leaned into his touch. “By the stars, I wish it were that simple,” he said. “I miss you. I miss you so much, Saint, it hurts, every day, I… I…”

Saint pulled him in again. Osiris held him with a dozen hands, pinning his broad form to his own, kissing him with all the pain and grief and guilt that had boiled in his soul for decades.

Osiris’ back met the wall. 

He melted into the Titan. Saint angled his head, kissed him deeper. Before he could even register what was happening, Saint was caging him in, grasping at his thigh, shifting his hips--

He shouldn’t do this.

His heart shattered when he felt a hundred Echoes tell him this wasn’t the right timeline. This was Saint, real, alive, breathing Saint, but this timeline wasn’t the one he wanted.

Saint tugged aside Osiris’ scarf to mouth at his throat.

Osiris’ head rolled aside to give him space. Electric trails ran down his spine, though neither of them used arc Light. 

A bittersweet shimmer lit in his chest. Though this wasn’t the right timeline to bring him back… Osiris could still be with him, now. For now. This Saint could not come with him, but he could have another memory of him, something else to use, a fresh version of his thoughts to narrow down to--

Saint pressed his thigh between Osiris’ and rolled his hips into him.

Osiris grasped at him. “Ah, Saint…”

“You’re thinking too much, love,” Saint murmured into his throat. “Quiet your mind. Be with me.”

“I want to.”

“Please?”

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

“A taste. So I know what to expect when I see you again. It’s been too long.”

“Far too long.”

Saint drew back with a little frown. “Can you… is it… even possible? With your… Echo?”

Osiris looked down at his shimmering gold form and chuckled. “Yes, this body is, essentially, mine. It’s a simulation of myself, connected to my consciousness. So it feels as I would.”

Saint looked interested now. “Does it, now?”

Osiris cocked his head suspiciously. “What are you thinking, love?”

Saint reached out to swipe his thumb lightly over Osiris’ lip. Osiris, in turn, turned into the touch and kissed at his palm. “I don’t even know what it is that I want,” Saint admitted. He grinned sheepishly.

Osiris pulled him in again. “Can I decide?” he asked softly.

Saint hummed and lost himself in another kiss. “Yes,” he answered into his mouth.

Another pair of hands started to pull at the straps on Saint’s armor.

Saint straightened in alarm and looked at his side.

Osiris grinned wryly at him. “Is this too much?” he asked.

Saint looked between Osiris’ Echoes, contemplating. He shivered. “No, not at all,” he said, sounding eager. “I hadn’t even thought…”

A third stepped forward. “Are you going to call me egotistical again?” he asked.

Saint laughed, but there was a hunger on his face. “It would only be fair to call myself selfish, because I will happily do this with as many versions of you that you want.”

“They’re not other versions. It’s just me, Saint,” Osiris said softly. “Puppets, in a way, I suppose… but it’s enough that I can feel you. It’s real enough.”

Saint let Osiris take over. 

The Warlock swapped their positions, using five Echoes to rid Saint of his armor, kissing every inch of metal revealed, until Saint was already panting and his mod was straining against what was left of his undersuit. 

He got to his knees and tugged away Saint’s undersuit. 

Solar-hot breath washed over his mod and Saint shivered. 

The simulation shifted as Osiris focused harder. He licked a slow stripe along Saint’s length as another Echo took the place of the wall and cupped his ass.

Saint leaned into him, like he was conflicted. “Osiris,” he groaned. 

“Can I?” Osiris whispered, circling his slick internal mod entrance. He was holding Saint’s mod, not quite taking him into his mouth yet.

“Fuck,” Saint hissed. “Yes, love, please…”

Osiris slid a finger into him as he let his jaw go slack. Saint’s optics flickered. Osiris pressed in further, taking him into his mouth, grasping his hips. He delighted in the artificial lubricant dripping out over his hand as he fingered him, and caught his mouth for another kiss.

Osiris felt so much all at once, but devoted every touch to Saint. 

Like this, he could do things he normally couldn’t. Putting a little more focus into the other Echoes, Osiris didn’t worry about a gag reflex. He shifted his shoulders and relished the sound Saint made as he took his length in his mouth as far as he could.

Saint let out a rough groan, hips twitching, unsure where to move. Osiris was holding him mostly still, though, half a dozen hands grasping him, caressing, needing to feel him, touch him--

Saint gasped into his mouth. “Osiris, fuck, wait.”

Every Echo paused.

Saint panted. He blinked, and his mouth glimmered with a little smile. “What about you?”

Osiris angled his head. “What about me?” he asked in confusion.

Saint cupped his face and set his other hand at the waist of another Echo. “I want you to feel something, too.”

“I am.”

“You’re fully dressed.”

Osiris hummed softly. “You always were worried about that,” he murmured. He kissed at his hip, his shoulder. “Never did let me get you off without insisting on me, too…”

“Of course, love,” Saint said. “It’s only fair. And I do love to see you unravel… and now to see it a dozen times at once?” He looked between the Echoes with a hungry glint in his eyes. 

Osiris leaned in again to mouth at the tip of his length. “Do you care if I alter the simulation a bit?” he asked.

“Whatever you want to do,” Saint groaned. 

Osiris couldn’t remove himself entirely from his Echoes, and he didn’t want to. Blindly, he held up his hands and flicked at the Vex controllers. 

Saint jumped as the world rippled around them. He chuckled as it reshaped. “Predictable as ever,” he said.

Osiris closed his hand to vanish the cubes and grinned wryly at him. “Come on, then,” he urged.

Saint let four Echoes guide him to the bed. It was as close to their shared room from so many years ago as Osiris could remember. Saint fell back a little heavily, but not an Echo cared. Osiris crowded him eagerly.

Void-chill fingers danced at his robes. “How does it come off?” Saint whispered.

Osiris drew back. The other Echoes vanished, leaving only one. He drew off his helmet first.

Saint frowned and sat up to cup his face. “You look different,” he murmured. “You look… tired.”

“I am,” Osiris replied. “It’s… been difficult. I’ll be okay. Don’t worry about me, love.”

Saint swiped his thumb along his cheek. “I always do,” he said. “You make it easy to worry about you.”

Osiris chuckled weakly and kissed his palm. “I don’t want to think about it.”

Saint studied him for a moment and nodded. “Okay.”

Osiris pulled gingerly at pieces of his armor. Though he stayed fully clothed, his Echo’s armor rippled away at his touch. 

Saint took him by surprise, and Osiris let out a sharp breath as he found himself on his back, hands pinned above him.

The Titan grinned down at him. “By the Sky, I’d devour you a thousand times over,” he said with reverence.

Osiris arched into his touch. “You’ve made up your mind, then, have you?” he asked. “You know what you want?”

“You,” Saint said. “I want you, all that you want to give.”

“Everything,” Osiris whispered. “I’d give anything for you, Saint-14.”

Saint slotted their bodies together and kissed him hard. 

Osiris groaned into his mouth as they moved in lazy tandem, unhurried but still seeking more. He hadn’t had anything pressed up against him like this in-- he couldn’t even remember the last time, actually. 

Saint gasped out as Osiris returned behind him, fingers at his entrance again. “Can I?” he asked.

“Yes,” Saint said, and shivered at the intrusion. “Ah, Osiris… I… fuck me.”

Osiris slid two fingers into him. “Are you saying that, or requesting?”

“Both.”

Osiris fingered him gently, watching the way his wires twitched and trembled between his metal plating when he twisted his fingers a certain way or pressed up against familiar spots. “I’m not sure that I want to,” he said.

Saint frowned down at him. “What?”

Osiris blinked and cupped his face. “Not like that, love, I don’t mean that I don’t want to have sex,” he said quickly. He eased his tone. “I don’t want to fuck you. I… not like that.”

“What… do you want?” Saint sounded confused.

Osiris leaned up to kiss him as he curled his fingers. Saint groaned into his mouth. Osiris drew back just a little, just enough. “I miss you, Saint. I want to make love. Not fuck.”

Saint’s optics glitched for a second with what Osiris recognized as a rush of emotion, and then the Titan was delving in to kiss him harder. He rocked his hips into him, almost urgent about it. “Osiris,” Saint whispered into his mouth, nigh reverent.

Osiris scrambled with one Echo. Saint drew back to laugh at him as he fumbled in the bedside. “Where’s--damn it!”

Saint burst out with roaring laughter, drawing him in closer. “You didn’t simulate that?” he asked.

Osiris huffed and swatted at the cubes. He tossed a bottle into his own hand and twitched his fingers to silence Saint. “You’re awful,” he grumbled.

Saint rocked his hips into Osiris’ hand. “Ah, you love me,” he teased. 

“I know,” Osiris replied.

“And I love you.”

Osiris softened. “I know,” he murmured. He brushed kisses across his shoulders. His chest squeezed again and it took too much strength not to shatter. 

This was going to hurt so much worse.

“Osiris,” Saint said softly. He tensed around Osiris’ fingers. He’d gone still. “Stop thinking.”

“It’s… hard.”

Saint snorted and reached out to stroke a hand down his chest. Osiris jumped in surprise when void-chill fingers found him. “This is hard, too,” Saint said pointedly.

Osiris rolled his eyes even as he bucked his hips into his touch. “Saint,” he chided.

Saint rubbed his thumb over his head, and Osiris felt every Echo ripple from the pleasure. “Be with me,” Saint murmured. “Just for now. Whatever you have seen, put it from your mind. All that matters is this.”

He gasped a curse in Hebrew at the slow tease of his fingers along the underside of his cock. “Saint,” he groaned.

“Please, my beloved.”

Osiris fumbled with the lube and paused. “Which way?”

Saint looked between the Echoes in contemplation. He leaned in to kiss him. “Here, like this.” 

Osiris smiled into the kiss and wrapped a hand around his thigh. He let the other Echoes vanish and put all his focus in settling between Saint’s thighs. 

“Wait,” Saint said at the pop of the cap. “Can I?”

The bottle was passed over.

Osiris hissed softly at the chill. It didn’t make him any less achingly hard, though. Saint was gentle, incredibly thorough, teasing about it until Osiris was struggling to keep his hips still.

Saint switched his focus to pull him closer.

Osiris kissed his jaw and moved in, pressed close, felt the thrumming metal touching him--

He shoved the bolt of fear aside and focused on sliding into Saint.

It was perfect.

Neither spoke, afraid of shattering the intimacy of the moment. Like an orchestra reaching a crescendo in Osiris’ chest, one wrong beat would splinter the resounding harmony into ragged fragments.

He settled deep in him as their hips met and went still, fingers trembling on the silver plating of Saint’s chest.

Saint pressed his forehead to Osiris’, his fans whirring loud. His optics flickered back on after several long heartbeats, and his jaw lit with a smile so soft Osiris ached. The Warlock slid his hand to the back of Saint’s head to pull him in for a kiss, open-mouthed and needy and tender. 

Saint tapped his chest gently. Osiris didn’t need to ask what he wanted; he knew. He twitched his hips into him, silently pleading.

Saint anchored himself a little better and moved. 

It was easy, too easy, to fall back into the familiar rhythm. Osiris remembered too well how to move with Saint, to match with him, where to touch him. 

Saint rolled his hips and cursed softly as Osiris wrapped a hand around his mod. He stroked slow, in time with Saint riding him.

The Titan took him by surprise.

Osiris was startled by a heady kiss. His eyes fluttered shut to focus on sensation. It was only his distant awareness of the simulation that alerted him. 

He always forgot how quick Titans could be.

In Saint's shift, Osiris slipped out of him. He gasped and grabbed Saint as Saint flipped them.

Saint beamed up at him, utterly unapologetic and driven by desire. "I want to see you, love," Saint said. "Have me this way."

Osiris leaned down to kiss him, soft and sweet and lingering. "Just when I thought you could not surprise me," he murmured. 

"I like this," Saint said. He hooked his leg around Osiris' hip and draped an arm around his shoulders.

Osiris shifted to hold himself up a little better. "I do, too," he said softly. "I didn't think I would ever see you like this again--"

Saint pulled him in. "Hush, Osiris, my love. Here and now."

Osiris kissed his jaw in apology and repositioned himself. 

They breathed out together as Osiris filled him again. 

Saint danced his fingers along his shimmering skin. "You… look angelic," Saint said with a breathless little laugh. "Beautiful. Ah, fuck, you feel-- feel like heaven too."

Osiris laughed and cupped his face. "Sap," he teased warmly. "You deserve the best. All I can give you… is yours."

Saint turned his head to kiss his palm. "I'm ready."

" _ Neshama _ ," Osiris whispered as he set a slow, deep pace. “ _ Ani ohev otcha _ .”

It was heartbreaking and healing all at once. The slide of skin against metal; the electric sensation of touching, being touched, after far too long without; the rising heat in his stomach that ached in his chest; the gasps and muffled moans and the whirring of Saint's fans; it was so agonizingly familiar and beautiful and good. 

Saint was unraveling beneath him. Osiris didn't know when more Echoes had appeared to caress him, but glimpsed glowing golden fingers and felt Saint under a dozen hands. 

Osiris pressed his face into the crook of his neck. "I'm going to find you," he promised in a voice raw with emotion. "I love you. I love you, Saint-14--"

Saint arched under him.

Numbing void spilled from the Defender’s strong fingers, seeped into Osiris’ very bones, the core of his being, filling his chest like the most beautiful symphony. The sound of Saint as he came was a harmony that had Osiris crumbling in his hands like dry clay.

The world went gold and white and purple.

When Osiris felt breath enter his lungs again and his vision cleared, he breathed in the sweet, rich scent of void. He was weak-limbed and static still coursed through him. He was frazzled by the echo of orgasm through his Reflections, though only one--

He blinked at his hands. 

Weathered brown skin stood stark against smooth silver plating. There was only a faint shimmer of gold around him.

Saint was breathing hard as his systems reset.

Osiris clutched him tighter and burrowed his face into his throat as he gingerly pulled out. His eyes burned.

Soft Russian met his ears. He didn’t know what it meant, but the tender tone was enough to have Osiris melting against him.

“You’re here.”

“I love you.”

“I love you.”

Osiris let Saint pull him into an embrace, their bodies wrapped together, fit like puzzle pieces against each other. “I’m sorry.”

“Osiris--”

“I’ve done… I’ve… said, and done, such… awful things…” Osiris’ breath shuddered. “Even this, it’s just going to hurt. I love you, and I love being with you, and that’s why this was probably bad.”

“Osiris, hush,” Saint soothed. He ran his hands over him. “Whatever happens… it is okay. I have you again, here, with me! The real you!” His smile washed violet over Osiris’ skin. “You’re so warm, my love… I missed you. Even if this is only for a short time, even if whatever hell you have witnessed comes to pass…” 

The Defender cupped Osiris’ face. His thumb rubbed his lip, gentle and tender. “I love you. And I know that you love me. That is good enough. We both know the danger of this place. I came here to find you, and I did.”

“But…” Osiris took a shuddering breath, filled his lungs with his Light. “It isn’t the right time.”

“I didn’t think so.” Saint pulled him in. “If I were to guess… I am going to die. A strange thought. But… it will be okay. Because here, nothing is set in stone. Even if I fall, there is another time where I do not. And I know I will not because you will be there.”

“Saint,” Osiris pleaded in a whisper. “I can’t lose you again.”

“You are strong,” Saint murmured. “Stronger than I. Your mind is a thing of wonder, and your heart beats with more passion and Light than anyone I have ever known. You’ll find me, because you promised. If this version of me is doomed, I accept it.” He kissed him softly. “I will bring down as many of these bastards as I can and I will do it for you. I will not fall quietly, and I will not be alone. But promise me… Osiris…”

Osiris kept his eyes.

“When you find me again, and I know you will, promise me that you will tell me this again. Don’t let yourself be consumed by guilt and sorrow. Lose yourself in my Light like you have now.” He grasped Osiris’ hand and held it to his chest. “Keep my Light in your heart, my love, okay? Save me. I know you can. You’re my hero, Osiris.”

Osiris kissed him desperately.

They couldn't let go. They tangled together like that would save them. They murmured soft things and let their Light melt together until sleep found them.

Osiris slept more soundly than he could ever remember.

He woke in a haze, simulated sunlight thick and warm from the window. For the briefest moment, he felt  _ safe. Home. _ He pressed into the pillows with a groan. "Saint, the curtains--" 

It shattered. 

Osiris sat bolt upright with a dagger in his heart. 

He heard the distant sounds of the City, a younger City. 

He took a breath and tasted the remnants of void. The ache would never leave, but his determination was renewed.

He looked down at the messy sheets and tightened his fingers. 

A purple ribbon was wrapped around his hand. 

"I'll find you, Saint," he promised. Osiris let his armor transmat onto his body as he stood. He grimaced at the twinge in his hip. It would've been a comical thing if the spike in his chest wasn't so much worse.

Osiris held out the cubes and flicked the simulation away.

He had work to do. 

As he drew his rifle and marched into the Forest, the rejuvenated fury of his Light lashing at strings of resistant code and Echoes rippling from his form, he wove the ribbon into the mane of feathers on his armor. It nestled among the raven-black around his head, a promise in the corner of his eye and center of his Light.

**Author's Note:**

> come stop by my tumblr @lesbianeliksni


End file.
